The corruption in Bell is “American as apple pie.” It is typical in low socio-economic communities in Southeast Los Angeles County and in cities as Manhattan Beach with wealthy, highly educated populations.

The commonality is lack of citizen oversight. As emphasized in a recent Daily Breeze editorial (“Bell corruption closer than we want to know”), “You’ll never know unless you pay attention to what your electeds are up to.” (March 26)

Why the lack of “attention”? In Manhattan Beach, as across the nation, elected officials, by limiting public engagement, fail to see their role as servants not masters thereby generating public apathy and disengagement.

For example, Manhattan Beach residents can only sadly claim, “We’re no worse than Los Angeles,” because, recently, in both cities, only 21 percent of registered voters turned out on Election Day. Indeed, the turnout in our seven municipal elections during 2001-2013 has been 19.1, 21.5, 29.5, 22.5, 24.03, 21.41, and 21.84 percent.
Voter apathy is a clear indicator that prior Manhattan Beach City Councils have consistently discouraged public engagement thereby failing to gain the attention and commitment of our residents to care about public policymaking. The current Manhattan Beach City Council needs to acknowledge these past failures and demonstrate by action, not only words, that it will “walk the talk” to gain that attention, commitment, and caring.
Further, “We the People” (U.S. Constitution) must insist that in delegating authority to our elected officials, do not give up our right to decide what is good for the people.

Thank you for your inquiry. The first specific step to furthering public engagement in Manhattan Beach is for the Manhattan Beach City Council to understand the distinction between community engagement and civic participation.

“Public Engagement” requires the Manhattan Beach City Council to empower residents in public policymaking via informed dialogue and deliberation resulting in effective recommendations that will guide our governance.

The following are the distinctions between public engagement and public participation:

The Manhattan Beach City Council has pacified residents for decades via public participation resulting in their alienation and disengagement from civic affairs. Therefore, generating public engagement in Manhattan Beach requires a paradigm shift by our elected officials that recognizes its value in promoting civic renewal.

Are you interested in specific examples of successful public engagement efforts? If so, I recommend the website of the Institute of Local Government, the education arm of the League of California Cities. The ILG also provides further information differentiating public engagement from public participation. www.ca-ilg.org.